Reading and Writing Tally at Midpoint of the Year

I began 2024 with a number of reading and writing goals. 

The reading goals were: 

60-70 books, 15,000 pages
More spiritual reading, 13-15 works, including at least 2 encyclicals
Reading the Bible daily, including finishing all the OT books I have not yet read
Read at least five Dorothy Sayers Wimsey mysteries
Read a couple of Agatha Christie mysteries
Read at least one Dickens novel that I haven't read before
Read at least one Chesterton novel that I haven't read before
Read all of Emily Dickinson's poetry
Read another Michael D. O'Brien novel
Read Winter's Child by Margaret Coel

The writing goals were:

Complete Santa's Diary - adding entries to fill the entire year. That's the major project.

Submit The Grumpy Shepherd to another publisher, and if rejected to search for another one. I will be sending a query letter to Our Sunday Visitor to start.

Continue to write haiku, senryu, and clerihews, and to submit them for publication. I hope to have at least 10 chosen for publication. 

So how did I do?

I'm up to 33 works, so right on target for that goal.

I've now read 7,333 pages, so I'm a bit behind schedule on that one.

I'm up to 9 spiritual works, including 3 encyclicals - so well on the way to that overall goal, and I've met my encyclical goal. 

I've read the Bible most days, but not every day, falling short. 

But I did finish all the Old Testament books that I had not yet read, so success on that one.

I've read 4 Dorothy Sayers Wimsey mysteries, so well on my way to my goal of 5 for the year.

I've read 2 Agatha Christie mysteries, meeting that goal.

I read a Dickens novel, meeting that goal.

I haven't read a Chesterton novel yet, so still have to meet that goal.

I finished reading all of Emily Dickinson's poetry, meeting that goal.

I read a Michael O'Brien novel, meeting that goal.  
I did read Winter's Child, meeting that goal.

I've done really well with my reading goals. I wish I could say the same of my writing goals.

I did some work on Santa's Diary - I'm up to over 33,000 words. But I have not written daily and I'm really behind on my entries. Well short of my goal.

I haven't done anything about The Grumpy Shepherd yet.

I have has 9 poems published or accepted, so I am close to meeting my goal of 10 for the year.

In the second half of the year I will easily meet and surpass all of my reading goals. The only one where I might have a problem is reaching 15,000 pages. And i need to be more consistent about reading the Bible.

I've already started my fifth Wimsey novel. And I'm about to start a book about St. Francis. I read some denser works earlier in the year; if I read more mysteries that might help me get my page count up there.

As for the writing, I really need to get more disciplined.   

By the way, some of the works read so far:

Veritatis Splendor (The Splendor of Truth) by Pope St. John Paul II

Rerum Novarum by Pope Leo XIII
Casti Connubii by Pope Pius XI
Cross-Examined: Catholic Responses to the World’s Questions by Fr. Carter Griffin
The Rocking Chair Prophet by Matthew Kelly
Jesuit at Large: Essays and Reviews by Paul V. Mankowski, S.J.
Heroes of the Catholic Reformation: Saints Who Renewed the Church by Joseph Pearce
Heretics by G. K. Chesterton
Introduction to the Devout Life by St. Francis de Sales

By the Rivers of Babylon by Michael D. O’Brien
The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens
Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift
Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry
The Violent Bear It Away by Flannery O’Connor
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

Signs and Wonders by Philip Gulley
Seaside Journeys of Faith by Jay Diedreck

Strong Poison by Dorothy L. Sayers
The Five Red Herrings by Dorothy Sayers
Murder Must Advertise by Dorothy Sayers
The Nine Tailors by Dorothy Sayers
The A.B.C. Murders by Agatha Christie
The Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie
Winter’s Child by Margaret Coel

The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde
Arms and the Man by George Bernard Shaw

Twas the Evening of Christmas by Glenys Nellist
Sparks from Rainbows by Julia A. Blodgett
Words with Wings: A Treasury of African-American Poetry and Art selected by Belinda Rochelle
The Dream Keeper and Other Poems by Langston Hughes
Voices by Lucille Clifton
The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson, Edited by Thomas H. Johnson

Pax et bonum